Chapter 61: Frozen Corpses (2/2)

”Hey, Jarret what do we do?”

”Should we use the scroll?”

Jarret was speechless as they took the attacks of the Bandersnatch, he didn't want to use the scroll and report utter failure to Lord Ty, requiring him to come save them. No, they needed to survive this fight on their own. There were a lot more dangerous monsters in this forest than this and if they couldn't handle this they would be better of dead.

Gritting his teeth Jarret braced himself and commanded. ”No! Everyone focus, these attacks are nothing. All we need to do is distract the monster, then we'll use the camouflage, soundless and odorless scrolls.— Now Lora, on my mark cast shockwave straight ahead, Gail watch out for Lora's attacked and if you spot the monster shoot it, Tarka, cast pit ahead of us when Gail attacks. Raz and Jin stay close to me and attack when I give the order.”

”Yes.”

”Okay.”

Alright.”

”Nicely done.”

”No problem.”

They all responded positively to his determined spirit and followed his orders, staying on the defensive while Jarret focuses on his ability until he finally yelled ”Now!” Lora unleased the third-tier spell shockwave and a figure was sent flying back in the air. Being an experienced ranger Gail didn't miss her chance and fired multiple arrows accompanied by her skills. °Penetrating Arrows°

Three arrows pierced through a flying figure and pinned it to a tree. No— the figure was somehow able to dodge two of the three arrows and had avoided a fatal blow. Without revealing itself the monster disappeared for a moment before a loud thud was heard as something fell into a hole that had suddenly appeared.

”Use it now,” Jarret commanded and Lora brought out three scrolls from her bag and activated them with a thought. The scrolls burnt in a purple haze turning to dust.

The forest was quiet and only the sound of the wind ruffling the leaves on the trees could be heard as the group disappeared from view and made a hasty retreat. They were left with no choice but to head for a different safe zone in other to avoid the Bandersnatch's territory not even dating to know if it had survived that fall.

The group took several detours as they headed for the second safe zone with the camouflage spell still active. The trip took them longer than it should because they were extra aware of their surroundings. Normally there shouldn't be so many monsters territory so close to each other but they had spotted several Tier 3 and above monsters on their way, and these monsters claim a lot smaller territories than they should, it was like they were giving up on the rest of the deeper territories for the four kings(three now).

It took them a while to make it past these territories and they had finally arrived some meters away from the safe zone according to Gail's report. The others took this time to finally rest and Jarret and Lora got to work activating more anti-divination scrolls until he was ready to spy on the scouts using his ability. ”Huh?” Jarret let out before he had the chance to control himself. ”What's wrong?” Lora asked, ”Did they notice us?”

Jarret shook his head with a confused expression on his face and said. Ah... No, there is... there is no one there.”

”Huh...” Lora couldn't help but let out the same word Jarret had earlier. When the others heard this they couldn't help but approach the two to find out what was going on.

”What do you mean no one there?” Gail said as she dropped off a tree in front of them and walked towards Jarret. ”I'm not sure myself, but from what captain Cronoff said, there should be scouts in all the safe zones closest to the castle but I can't find anyone in this one.”

”Do you think it's a trap?”

”We took a lot of precautions, they shouldn't know we're here.”

”Maybe they are aware of our arrival in the castle and had gone to report it.”

”There is no need for all of them to leave for just that.”

”What if this has something to do with the drastic changes in the forest.”

”Yeah, perhaps they ran into one of the four king's and both parties annihilated each other.”

”Well that might be it”

”I don't think a bunch of scouts can kill one of the four king's Kaz, even if they had several artifacts and still sacrifice their lives, if it was that easy the Great Five would've already conquered this place.”

”Alright, we ain't getting anywhere by just discussing this lets head in and investigate before we report this to Lord Ty,” Jarret said while clapping his hands to get the other's attention and they got their things together and headed inside the safe zone.

The normally sandy safe zone was now covered in snow, and as you can imagine it wasn't easy to move around on it. Since this was a safe zone the group spit up to search for clues, if any. Using some detect scrolls they all had a limited version of magic sense and they began their search. They moved around the place for about 10 to 15 minutes before they heard Raz yell out. ”Hey, guys! I found something.”

The others quickly gathered around him and he started to dig out the thick layer of snow around the perimeter of the safe zone which soon revealed something they all couldn't believe. A body was buried under the snow and even though the corpse was frozen, the body was most likely not even more than a few days old. The weather for the past few weeks had been extremely cold even before the snow so the body looked like it had been well preserved.

They dug out the body and found a second one along the way. They searched for a few more minutes and didn't find any more. Jarret frowned slightly, this was a safe zone and yet two scouts had died here, what did this mean. Did a monster somehow enter here, this place wasn't protected by magic, it was just observed that monsters didn't come close and if a monster was forcefully brought here, they would do anything in their power to leave.

Jarret brought out one of the communication scrolls from his bag and immediately activated it. This was beyond his understanding and he would just report it.